My Perspective

In 1688 the Irish scientist and politician William Molyneux sent a letter to the philosopher John Locke. In it, he asked him a question:  Could someone who was born blind, and able to distinguish a globe and a cube by touch, be able to immediately distinguish and name these shapes by sight if given the ability to see? A scientific study [1] actually answered this question by conducting an experiment on the congenitally blind who have just been given the ability to see. They reported that such subjects could not distinguish a cube from a sphere by sight alone after the operation, but they could rapidly learn to distinguish. I ask a related question here: Could someone who was born deaf (congenitally), and able to distinguish a snare drum from a cymbal by touch alone, be able to immediately distinguish and name these musical instruments by their sound alone (without seeing them) if given the ability to hear? I think the latest study published in Nature Medicine [2] is rightly positio...

I developed a multiple choice game as a web app. One can learn the meaning of verses from Patanjali's Yoga Sutra written in classical Sanskrit language. When the player finds the correct meaning of the verse they will see the time taken and number of guesses they needed.  This game can be played either on a desktop or a hand held device. https://patanjali-yoga-sutra.glitch.me/

Saṃskṛta Bhāratī UK organized the 15th annual Saṃskṛta Saṃbhāṣaṇa Śibiram (residential Spoken Sanskrit Camp) at Leicester over the Easter long-weekend (3 days & 2 nights, spanning nearly 40 hours of learning and speaking Sanskrit). In this residential camp (Śibiram) I got to stay in a beautiful natural setting in the village near Loughborough in Leicester. I learnt and spoke Saṃskṛtam for 3 days without any distractions. This was a very good opportunity for improving my Saṃskṛtam that I had learned previously in school and currently via online classes. I thank the organizers for giving me the opportunity to present my 20+ Indic Knowledge web games by iSeek that I have created so far. Looking at the enthusiasm of the community, I even gave them a first glimpse at "Panchang puzzle", a work-in-progress game that I am yet to launch. I also thank the organizers for giving me a platform to hold an UK premiere of "Sri-Satya-Narayana-Katha" an animation movie entirely i...

I developed a combo "wordle" + "Hangman" like puzzle as a web app. One can test their grasp over Vishnu Sahasranama in this game. The player has to guess one of the names of Vishnu as listed in the Sahasranama based on the English meaning that is revealed as a clue. All valid guesses are the names of Vishnu. One can use hint shown in Hangman style. This game can be played either on a desktop or a hand held device. https://sahasranama.glitch.me/ My school mate had provided the link of my Vishnu Sahasranama based wordle game to the Head mistress of a Vishnu Gupta Vishwa Vidyalaya, a Gurukul in Gokarna where his daughter studies. He told me that the HM used it with the students to make them aware of Vishnu Sahasranama and she had also conducted a quiz using my game.  I am so glad that my game is being used for real in a school.

The "happy birthday" song that we sing on someone's birthday is quite prosaic, dull, and repetitive to say the least. Maybe it it so because it addresses the lowest common denominator i.e. children who are yet to learn a language fully. If so then it is not for the adults to also sing the same song. Here is a meaningful birthday song in Sanskrit with its meaning. Song in Sanskrit: अयि प्रिय सखे जन्मदिनमिदम् । प्रार्थयामहे भव शतायुषी ॥ १ ॥ पुण्य कर्मणा कीर्तिमार्जय । जीवनम् तव भवतु सार्थकम् ॥  २  ॥ Transliteration of the poem: ayi priya sakhē janmadinamidaṃ । prārthayāmahē bhava śatāyuṣī ॥ 1 ॥ puṇya karmaṇā kīrtimarjaya । jīvanaṃ tava bhavatu sārthakam ॥ 2 ॥ Translation in English: Oh dear friend, today is your birthday; We all pray for your long life. By noble deeds may you attain fame; May your life be meaningful. Credits : [x] Original Birthday Song in Sanskrit by Swami Tejomayanandaji Link -  https://www.chinmayajyoti.org/documents/birthdaysong.pdf  

I was nominated for 'Open Research Award' 2024 from Newcastle University for my leading contribution in making 15+ software and 4+ datasets from Auditory Cognition Group as open source. The Open Research Awards recognises colleagues and students who have used open practices to make research more accessible, transparent or reproducible, and demonstrate an understanding of the aims of open research. Reference: [1] Open Research Award Winners -  https://www.ncl.ac.uk/library/academics-and-researchers/research/open-research/awards/

I developed a hang man style game as a web app. The challenge is to identify the tree by clues in the form of pictures of its bark, bud and leaf. Upon each unsuccessful guess of a letter, a new clue is revealed as pictures with the final clue being the Latin name. When the player correctly identifies the tree, they will see the time taken by them. One can learn more about natural history. This is supported on both desktop and handheld devices.  Try the Tree-ID game here - https://tree-id.glitch.me/